Submitting the Test Request
On January 29, I sent an email asking for a copy of a New York City church baptismal record for Sarah Catherine Trafford. She appears on my husband's family tree and it was a record that we sincerely wanted. I provided a link to the FamilySearch index entry and included the index information. I also provided my name, address, telephone number, and email address, as requested.

Reply to the Test Request
Today I received an email with the subject "You have received a file from photoduplication Shared." It included a link, good for 14 days, that I could use to download the file. Clicking on it took me to a page that let me download a zip file.

The zip file contained two files -- a jpg and a pdf, both of which were created on February 14. The jpg was large (2416 x 2966 pixels) and very readable. The pdf was a cover letter that told me the record was the "best copy available." It also gave me details on how to order additional records by email and wished me success.Why I'll Continue to Order Films
So, in summary, I received a quality image by email for free in three weeks. Can't beat that! I'm grateful to the volunteer(s) at FamilySearch who retrieved the image and forward it to me, but I don't think I will use the service again. Why?

I have easy access to a Family History Center and so I can't justify asking someone else to obtain records for me. I'm pretty sure the image retrieval service wasn't meant to take the place of film ordering.

But there's more to it than that. Looking at the record that I got today, I saw an entry for Sarah Catherine Trafford, born to Abraham and Basilia, but two lines below I also saw an entry for an Abraham--an adult. I think Sarah's father might have been baptized a year and a half after she was born. It made me wonder if other family members might have appeared on the reel?

I also found myself wishing that I had a title page from whatever volume the page was from (I probably should have asked for it, but I didn't think about it when I sent in my request) and it's likely that the baptism was just a one-page entry but some registers span two pages and I'd feel more comfortable if I had seen the register myself. I guess I'm just an independent sort at heart. : )

How This Relates to Chicago Record Retrieval
So, how does this relate to the Chicago vital records that were taken offline? It's an awkward question for me to answer in an unbiased way, but I'll try.

If you're not in a hurry for a record and you don't have access to a Family History Center, then I'd say it's a great way to go!

If you do have access to a Family History Center, then it's up to you to decide whether to use the service or to order in a film.

Where does my service fit in?
If you need a record in a hurry (I can visit the Family History Center on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday) or if you've decided, for whatever reason, not to use the free service, then I'm still here, ready to help. I'm planning to offer a discount on multiple-record orders going forward and I'll be updating my Genlighten.com offerings soon.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Can someone please tell me how to open the photoduplication file? I have not had problems in the past but now for some reason after downloading the file I can not open it. After waiting months for the file to arrive I finally get it & I can't open it?? This is very frustrating.

Actually I figured out what the problem was. For some reason on my home computer now the file is not automatically downloading as a zip file. Once I rename the file with a name ending with .zip I am unable to open it. I don't know why all of a sudden this is happening.

About Me

I have a bachelor's degree in Japanese and a master's degree in reading instruction, but for the past ten years, I've focused on helping people locate genealogical records for Chicago and Cook County research.
I'm a co-founder of Genlighten.com and I provide customer support for the site.
If I'm not doing something genealogy-related, I'm probably playing the banjo or fiddle. I discovered old-time music in 2008 and it's become a very happy part of my life.